A barrabrava of the Atlanta Athletic Club who was on the run more than two years ago for the crime of financier Carlos Walter Molina - killed by a shot to the chest in November 2021 in an apartment in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Almagro - was arrested when he tried to embark on a trip to Brazil, sources in the investigation reported on Sunday.
He is Eduardo Miguel Ángel Ajalla Cabrera (38), alias "Calabaza", identified as the alleged perpetrator of Molina's murder and for which two women were sentenced last September by the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) 12 of Buenos Aires to sentences of 15 and 20 years in prison due to their respective participations in the homicide.
The sources indicated that the Ministry of National Security offered a reward of $ 3,000,000 for those who provided information on the whereabouts of "Calabaza", who was intensely sought more than two years ago for that crime.
Regarding his arrest, the spokespersons indicated that it took place last Friday and was carried out by members of the Homicide Division of the City Police, who managed to elucidate, from telephone wiretaps, that the 38-year-old man would embark on a trip to the Atlantic Coast and then to Brazil with his partner.
For this reason, the agents detected that Ajalla Cabrera was moving in a Dodge Ram truck through the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, Scalabrini Ortiz at 1.400, so they proceeded to intercept the vehicle and arrest the fugitive.
According to reports, the vehicle was driven by his partner, while there were two minors who accompanied them.
Finally, the cell phones found at the place of arrest were seized and the kidnapping of the truck in which "Calabaza" was traveling was determined.
They captured "Calabaza", a barrabrava from Atlanta who was a fugitive for the murder of a financier in Almagro
"The fugitive had a particular way of getting around, with no assets in his name but with a high management of resources, which made it difficult to track him down. Possibly because of his ties to the Atlanta fans," a judicial source told the Télam news agency.
For the financier's family, the arrest is "a sigh of peace"
After learning of Ajalla Cabrera's arrest, the victim's girlfriend, María Belén Pérez, told Télam that she received the news as "a sigh of peace to the soul."
Walter Molina (34), murdered in Almagro. In the photo, with his girlfriend, during a trip to Villa Carlos Paz.
"I always trusted in justice. It's a relief. Especially at this time of year when everything hurts a little more," said an emotional María Belén.
For the murder of Molina (34), Julieta Lacivitta and Estefanía Vanesa Romer, who belonged to a criminal gang that was dedicated to stealing money from "arbolitos" or financiers, were convicted on September 11.
During the investigation, investigating prosecutor Marcelo Munilla Lacasa established that Molina was killed after being summoned on November 19, 2021, to apartment "C" on the 10th floor of a building located on Díaz Vélez Avenue at 3700 in the Almagro neighborhood, to make the change of 7,500 dollars.
According to the indictment issued by Magistrate Fernando Caunedo, in charge of the National Criminal and Correctional Court 10, Molina was summoned on three occasions by a woman who identified herself as "Camila," with whom he carried out two purchase and sale operations of $1,200 and $3,000, and who days later asked him to carry out a third one of $15,<>.
According to records of the case, the person responsible for contacting the financier was Lacivitta - who called herself "Camila" - and the now detained "Cala" or "Calabaza".
For the prosecutor, Molina was summoned at 18 p.m. on November 19, 2021 by Lacivitta to Díaz Vélez's apartment and upon entering "he was surprised by one of the defendants - possibly 'Calabaza', for a matter of physical force – who beat him and shot him in the chest with a 9-millimeter caliber pistol," to then flee "leaving in the place thirty-four thousand five hundred pesos, one hundred dollars and all the belongings" of the victim.
The investigators established by crossing the antennas of the suspects' cell phones, that the telephone line with which Molina was contacted was turned on in the vicinity of the home shared by Romero and "Calabaza", in the neighborhood of Caballito.
They also determined that whenever the financier was contacted, the cellphone signal would hit the antenna near the Atlanta clubhouse, where the band is believed to have gathered.